The present invention relates generally to solutions for presenting visual data to the user of a computing and/or communication apparatus. More particularly the invention relates to an apparatus, method, and computer program product for a graphics presentation apparatus and a method for presenting visual context on a display unit of the graphics presentation apparatus.
Today, the user interaction with a computing and/or communication device can be made fairly flexible and intuitive. For example, there are numerous of solutions that cause the format in which information is displayed to vary depending on how the device is positioned and/or repositioned during the interaction in order to improve the efficiency and usability of a user interface.
U.S. 2010/0188328 describes an environmental gesture recognition system, wherein specific motion patterns are interpreted as commands to a data system. For instance, flipping a portable device backwards may represent a scroll-down command and flipping the device forwards may represent a scroll-up command, while rotating the device clockwise or counter-clockwise around its vertical axis may represent commands for selecting a next and a previous page respectively of a displayed document.
U.S. 2012/0001943 discloses a system, wherein a sensor determines a state of tilt changes of an electronic device. In response to a tilt direction and a tilt angle, the system controls how information is presented on a display unit of the electronic device.
U.S. 2004/0157647 describes a portable device with a display, which is associated with a rotation detection device for detecting the displacement of a housing that stores the display. As a result, when the portable device is rotated 90°, an image shown on the display can be rotated 90° so as to compensate for the rotation of the device.
U.S. 2012/0229371 reveals screen rotation lock methods for preventing an angle-dependent auto rotation of the information that is displayed on the screen of a portable device. Thus, for example, a user can choose to avoid that the screen content is rotated when the device is rotated (e.g. as in U.S. 2012/0001943 or U.S. 2004/0157647).
U.S. 2012/0235790 relates to a solution for locking and unlocking a mobile device using facial recognition. Here, the camera of the device captures images, and a face recognition processor determines whether or not a user is present in front of the device. If not, the device is locked. This function may be triggered in response to the fact that the device has been motionless for a threshold time.
The article Chen, L. P. et al., “iRotate: Automatic Screen Rotation based on Face Orientation”, Session: Phone Fun: Extending Mobile Interaction, CHI'12, May 5-10, 2012, Austin, Tex., USA, pp 2203-2210 reveals an approach to automatically rotate the screen content on a mobile device to match a user's face orientation. Here, the front camera of the mobile device, such as a mobile phone or tablet, is used to detect the user's face and causes the screen content to rotate accordingly. Thus, in contrast to gravitation-based rotation, the content will be presented correctly also for a user lying down on one side while interacting with the device.